Renier Hotopp Law Offices – compassionate family law

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

December 29, 2025

DE PERE – Renier Hotopp Law Offices, LLC expanded its reach into the Greater Green Bay market with the fall opening of its De Pere office at 785 Scheuring Road.

Establishing the firm in southeast Wisconsin in June 2020, Attorney and Founder Lindsay Renier said the expansion into Northeast Wisconsin brings the same family law approach focused on communication, consistency and compassion.

Establishing roots in Greater Green Bay

Renier said her connection to Northeast Wisconsin is both personal and professional, with much of her family living in the region and her work with the Greater Green Bay Chamber and local networks.

“Word of mouth travels a lot more quickly in Northeast Wisconsin,” she said, describing the region as a large market with a strong sense of community. 

With that in mind, Renier said having a physical office is essential to building trust and long-term relationships in the market.

The office is staffed by three team members, and Renier said she visits at least twice a week.

“We would not be able to do business in Northeast Wisconsin without a brick-and-mortar office here,” she said. 

Growing up in a family-run business, Renier said, shaped her entrepreneurial instincts.

From a young age, she said she was involved in daily operations, an experience that taught her the value of answering phones and serving customers.

“They ingrained in me… that if you run a business, you treat [people] well,” she said. “My brother owns the family business now, and we talk a lot about Northeast Wisconsin and the industry here. He and his wife are great resources for me.”

COVID-19 leads to a new direction

The opening of the De Pere office – Renier Hotopp Law Offices’ second brick-and-mortar location – Renier said, reflects the growth and appeal of the firm.

After earning her law degree from DePaul University College of Law, she said she started her career in Chicago, representing large corporate clients such as United Airlines and Walmart.

Renier said she later served as assistant general counsel for Mercy Health Systems, until the COVID-19 pandemic led to the furlough of the entire legal department where she worked – prompting her to reconsider her career path.

“It was a time of reckoning for me, and I decided I didn’t want to work for a big corporation anymore,” she said. “I wanted to do something I cared about and had a passion for, and I realized I loved helping people – that’s where I find my fulfillment and joy.”

Renier said she realized she wanted to focus on work that aligned more closely with her values, shaped by both professional and personal experiences – including her own divorce in 2014-15, which was “relatively simple” from a legal standpoint, but dramatic and life-changing nonetheless.

“Even being an attorney, it was very difficult to navigate the courthouse and procedures of divorce,” she said.

After remarrying in 2018, Renier said she and her husband, Kenny Hotopp – director of operations at the firm – went through a challenging custody dispute with his then-15-year-old daughter, reinforcing her awareness of the need for sensitivity in such situations.

“It was very traumatic and heart-wrenching, [and when I look at others’ situations], I recognize that you’re dealing with your family, so this is your whole life,” she said. “That’s when I realized I wanted to help people go through the same things I went through and make it a better experience for them.”

A deliberate approach to family law

Renier Hotopp Law practices exclusively in family law, Renier said, with a focus on divorce, gray (silver) divorce for clients age 55 and older, custody and placement, paternity, guardianship and adoption.

Though many attorneys are capable of handling family law matters, Renier said the differentiator lies in how clients are treated throughout the process.

She said she wanted the firm’s approach to be distinctly different, a philosophy now applied in both its De Pere and Burlington locations.

“When I started taking family law cases, I provided service the way I wanted service provided to me,” she said.

Renier said this approach has fostered a culture focused on compassion, responsiveness and a genuine investment in client outcomes. 

The firm, she said, aims to respond to emails within 24 hours and answers phones promptly whenever possible – even tracking missed calls through internal performance metrics.

When immediate answers aren’t available, Renier said staff keep clients informed and outline clear next steps.

“That sets us apart from other firms,” she said. 

A distinctive operational practice at the firm, Renier said, is its weekly roundtable review of all active cases – with attorneys meeting to discuss progress, challenges and next steps for each matter.

The firm, she said, uses these meetings to plan and advance cases intentionally, intending to avoid prolonged timelines that can add emotional and financial strain for clients.

Renier said she oversees every case in the firm, ensuring consistency in approach and preventing attorneys from working in isolation.

“We don’t have six attorneys working in silos,” she said. “The goal is to define next steps and how we can move cases forward so they are not sitting for a long period. No one wants to be in this period of life for a long time. We want to make it as smooth as possible, as compassionate as possible and as quick as possible.”

Building a culture of collaboration

Renier said the firm employs 12 people – including six attorneys, three paralegals, a director of operations and additional client support staff. 

Several employees, she said, are based in Northeast Wisconsin.

When hiring attorneys and staff, Renier said she prioritizes culture and interpersonal skills alongside legal expertise.

She said she looks for people who care deeply about clients and outcomes, not simply case volume, and said she has succeeded in the team they’ve assembled.

“Every attorney is a caring, compassionate and wonderful person, and we have an amazing culture,” she said. “People care about the outcomes of [cases] and not just turning cases.”

Renier said another key differentiator for the firm is its client experience department, which operates on a nonbillable basis.

The department, she said, is responsible for regular check-ins with clients, helping them navigate paperwork and addressing concerns that may not require attorney involvement.

Renier said many clients hesitate to contact their attorney out of concern for being billed, so the firm created a separate, nonbillable point of contact to remove that barrier and ensure clients feel supported throughout their case.

“That department… keeps in constant contact with clients to ensure they are getting the best service possible,” she said.

Consistent interactions with the same client experience team members, Renier said, help clients feel more comfortable raising concerns.

The department, she said, collaborates with attorneys and staff to resolve issues swiftly and improve service.

The firm’s efforts to deliver great service, Renier said, extends to clients and non-clients alike.

A prime example, she said, is the firm’s focus on education, as it regularly creates and shares educational content on social media to help individuals understand family law and identify potential issues they may have missed.

Renier said the firm wants people to be informed, even if they do not ultimately become clients.

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” she said. “We want people to know what questions to ask when going to a consultation with an attorney.”

Renier said she has identified gray divorce as a growing area of need, with these cases often involving long-established estates and complex financial considerations.

“By that time in life, you may have been married 30 years or longer,” she said, pointing to pensions, retirement accounts, real estate and other assets that require careful planning.

Renier said that in some cases, one spouse may manage the finances, leaving the other less prepared to handle financial matters in the future.

To address this, she said the firm often works with certified divorce financial analysts and financial planners to help both parties move forward successfully.

“Both of these people need to thrive after their divorce,” she said.

Growth in markets, size

Renier said she has been very intentional in working with both a mindset coach and a business coach to address both personal and professional challenges, roadblocks and opportunities. 

“I’m regularly discussing ideas to differentiate [the firm], because anybody can hire a divorce attorney and get standard service,” she said. “But if we want to grow and expand and be the best, we need to differentiate ourselves, and I discuss that a lot with both coaches.”

Since its founding in 2020, Renier Hotopp Law has grown more than 1,000%, a pace Renier said exceeded her original expectations. 

“When I started my firm, I was at my kitchen table,” she said. “The amount of growth that happened so quickly has astounded me.”

Renier said she attributes that growth to hiring the right people, investing in business and mindset coaching and maintaining a belief that the firm could continue to evolve and expand.

“I’ve surrounded myself with fantastic people and having the mindset that the sky is the limit has helped me exceed expectations of where I thought this could go when I opened in 2020,” she said.

Navigate to therhlawoffice.com for more information on the firm, its founders and services.